Gardeners are once again being asked by Plantlife to keep their lawn mower in the shed during No Mow May to allow wild plants to thrive and provide insect nectar. Thousands of people take part in Plantlife’s annual Citizen’s annual scientific survey, the largest garden lawn study ever conducted in the UK. The charity says the results show that “a radical change in attitude towards lawn management is underway”. He says 78.8% of the 2,157 EFC participants last year did not cut their hair for a month before taking part in the survey, an increase of 33.6% in 2019. People who chose not to cut were rewarded with rare plants. More than 250 species of wild plants were recorded by gardeners last year, including wild strawberry, wild garlic and very rare plants such as fern, saxifrage, snakeshead fritillary and eyebright. Many orchids were also seen, including the decaying orchid, the green-winged orchid, the southern and northern marsh orchid, and the bee orchid. Ian Dunn, head of Plantlife, said: “These results show that our call for No Mow May has taken root and has taken root. The results highlight how embracing a little more wildlife in our gardens can be a boon for plants, butterflies and bees. “We are excited about the sunrise of the new British lawn.” Plants that are considered weeds should be welcome on lawns in the summer, the charity added, especially those such as dandelions, which provide important nectar to pollinators. Although there were more than 85 daisies one by one on a typical 2021 grass, they produced 9% of the pollen and 37% of the nectar sugar. Plantlife said that only eight dandelion flowers can produce enough nectar sugar to meet the basic energy needs of an adult bee. An area of 100 square meters of uncut grass, according to their plant study, would produce enough pollen to collect six bee brood cells and enough nectar sugar to meet the needs of six bees a day. After May, people with gardens and lawns are asked to mow less all summer and preferably leave at least part of their garden untouched. Oli Wilson, a model at the National Plant Monitoring Plan, said: “May is a crucial month for flowering plants that need to have a solid foundation, but we do not claim that they will ever be cut after May. Year-round plant life guidelines are a multi-layered approach to mowing the garden, where the smallest grass is supplemented by areas with larger grass. This dichroism enhances the variety of flowers and the production of nectar and pollen throughout the year. “
